Takarin
by Nanie-san
Summary: Sakura and her family live in the Takarin, where it is dangerous after sunset. One night, after the disappearance of her friend, Sakura’s leaves to go on a journey to seek out the danger and destroy it once and for all, and she even gets some help along
1. Danger in the Night

**Takarin**

**Summary: **Sakura and her family live in the Takarin, where it is dangerous after sunset. One night, after the disappearance of her friend, Sakura's leaves to go on a journey to seek out the danger and destroy it once and for all, and she even gets some help along the way.

**Disclaimer:** Alright, let's get down to the facts now. As much as I wish that I owned CCS, I don't. And if I did I wouldn't be typing this fic now would I...

**A/N: **Hi, this is my second fic and I hope that it has better results than my first one. Please, I'd be very happy both **read** and **review**... Anyways, in this fic Sakura is 16, Tomoyo is also 16, and Toya is 23, and Shaoran/Li is 18.

**Japanese Words Used In This Chapter:**

Hai- yes

Gomen nasai- I'm sorryOuta-san- Father

Kaiju- monsterOkaa-san- Mother

Baka- idiotNi-san- (older) brother

Gaki- bratIkkimasho- let's go

Domo arigato- thank you

Chan, Kun, San- Japanese honorifics used after a person's name

**Introduction:** Sakura Kinomoto is the youngest child of Nadeshiko and Fujitaka Kinomoto. She lives with her father and brother in a desert-like place called Takarin. Her family owns a small restaurant with an inn above it and a stream flowing behind it, but they are still very poor. Sakura helps her father and brother to run the restaurant and inn. Sakura's mother had disappeared one night and so had other people from the desert, so now no one ever goes out past sunset, except in the case of an absolute emergeny.

**Chapter 1: **Danger in the Night

"Father! I'm back!" shouted the girl with honey brown hair and eyes that glittered like diamonds and were the color of the grass that grows in the best of fertile areas.

"Welcome back, Sakura. I hope that you were able to get the groceries that I need," said Fujitaka.

"Hai. I came back as quickly as possible so that I would be back before the sun sets," Sakura proudly said.

"I'm glad. It's dangerous for anyone to be out after dark, especially for sixteen year old girls," said Fujitaka in a serious voice.

"Yeah, we wouldn't wanna lose the kaiju, now would we," said Toya while he was busy peeling a potato for that night's supper.

"Ahh! I AM NOT A KAIJU! Not a kaiju, baka ni-san," Sakura angrily shouted and then ran towards Toya with her fists out.

Toya held out one hand and pressed it on Sakura's forehead and laughed while she tried to get close enough to punch him.

"Now cut it out you two. Or I'll have you both sent to bed tonight without supper," scolded Fujitaka.

"Gomen nasai, outa-san," both Sakura and Toya said at once. They both knew that they were very poor and so if forced to do so their father would carry out his threat and that they would have the food that they didn't eat that night for another night's supper.

Just as they started to eat the sun started to sink into the desert.

"Isn't it so pretty," Sakura dreamily said. And indeed it was pretty, but what was prettier was Sakura's eyes that were glistening in the sunset. "I wish that it weren't so dangerous at night. Then I could go and dance in the setting sun as it sinks into the desert and casts the last of its beautiful upon the desert for the day."

Fujitaka heard the longing in his daughter's voice, but he knew that he couldn't let her out to dance with the setting sun. Strange and mysterious things happened in the night, it had always been that way in the Takarin. Fujitaka rose and pulled the blinds down over the window after the sun had finished setting. "Alright, let's finish eating Toya's good stew now," he said.

"Alright," Sakura happily responded as she poured some stew into her bowl.

Later, after Sakura had finished washing the dishes, she was helping Toya to sweep the floor when she heard a knock on the door. Toya quickly sent Sakura to put the brooms behind the counter and looked through the peephole in the door. After seeing who it was he instantly opened the door and pulled the girl with raven black hair that was standing outside through the door and then shut the door. "Tomoyo-san, what the heck were you doing out there! You know that it's dangerous to be outside after the sun sets!"

"I'm sorry to bother you so late, but Okaa-san is very sick and I didn't know what to do! We don't have anymore medicine and all of the stores are closed now, so I came to you. Please help her, please I beg you," Tomoyo pleaded in a small and panicked voice that reached barely above a whisper.

Fujitaka walked over and grabbed a bag that had medicine in it. "Tomoyo-san, Toya-kun and I will go over and see your mother, you should stay here with Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan, you watch Tomoyo-san and get her a room to stay in for tonight and open up the restaurant and inn tomorrow morning. Stay safe, and good night."

Sakura watched as Toya and her father ran out of the door and headed towards Tomoyo's house, and then she went and closed the door and latched it. "Ikkimasho, Tomoyo-chan. I'll prepare a room for you to stay in for tonight, unless you would like to sleep in my room with me."

"I'll stay in your room for tonight," Tomoyo said. She looked at Sakura and truly wished that her father and brother would be able to make it to her house safely and be able to help her mother. "Domo arigato, Sakura-chan."

The next morning Sakura got up and started to finish the sweeping that she had been working on with Toya before Tomoyo had came. After she finished sweeping she opened up the windows to let some sunshine and fresh air into the room. "Hmm, I wonder what I should make for breakfast? I wish that I could make something really special for Tomoyo, but that would cost too much, and she is also poor and may feel indebted to us for taking care of her mom, and this would make her feel even more indebted, even thought we are good friends. Well, I guess that I could make some rice pudding. Yeah! That's what I'll do, it won't be super fancy and nice, but it will be better that what we usually both have, and I can give any extras to outa-san, ni-san and Tomoyo-chan's mom," Sakura thought to herself while she washed off the tables. She then started to make some rice pudding. By the time that she had finished making the pudding, Tomoyo was up and dressed. "Tomoyo-chan, I made some rice pudding for our breakfast, and once you're done eating, you can go over to see you mom and take some to her, ni-san and outa-san!" exclaimed Sakura, who was overly happy at the time.

"Alright," agreed Tomoyo who wanted to go and see her mother more than anything at the time. "And I'll see if Toya-kun can come home and stay with you if your father plans to stay for a bit longer."

"Thank you ever so much Tomoyo-chan, you're the best!" exclaimed Sakura. "Here, now eat up," said Sakura happily while handing Tomoyo a bowl of rice.

After she ate Tomoyo headed out the door back to her house.

"Hello," Tomoyo said as she walked into her house.

"Good morning, Tomoyo-san," Toya said. He didn't sound like he was very happy, actually he sounded quite stressed.

"How's mother? Is she alright?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yeah, she's fine. I took care of her after we got here," Toya said. "Go and tell Sakura that dad and I can't come home, and ask her to close the restaurant and inn and come over here immediately."

Tomoyo then ran out of the door as fast as she could. She wanted to know exactly had made Toya stressed and uneasy, and why he wasn't going to be coming home right away, and why he needed Sakura-chan. "Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo shouted as she got to the door. Sakura opened the door and Tomoyo hurried in. "Sakura-chan, Toya said that he wanted you to close up the restaurant and inn for now and to go over to my house immediately that he and your father wouldn't be able to come home right away," Tomoyo said in a rush, not stopping to breath in-between her sentences and now was taking some time to catch her breath as Sakura quickly closed up everything and put a closed sign on the door as she ran out.

Sakura ran faster and faster. She had a very uneasy feeling about all of this. Soon she was running thorough the door and ran into Toya. "Toya, what's wrong!? What happened?" she worriedly asked.

"It's father. On the way here someone attacked, but we couldn't see his face. He hurt father, but I managed to get in enough of an attack to scare him away. Father is upstairs lying down and he would like to see you. Afterwards, go home and get his bed ready for him, I'll bring him over then," Toya said in a steady voice. Sakura knew that he was trying his best to be calm and brave, but she was smart enough to see the stressed look on his face and his desperate attempt to calm down as she ran through the door.

"Alright," whispered Sakura as she quietly walked up the stairs to the room that her dad was lying down in. She wanted to cry, but she held back tears. She just had to be strong for her dad, she couldn't cry now. Later, later she would cry, after she was out of the sight of her father. "Outa-san, are you alright? I came over as quick as I could," said Sakura letting her voice raise only slightly above a whisper.

"Ahh, Sakura-chan, I'm glad you came," Fujitaka said to his daughter. He was in pain, but just seeing his daughter made him forget about it. She looked so much like her mother.

After she visited her father for a while Sakura ran home and made her father's bed, tidied up his room a bit and then dusted and swept the floor. "Poor outa-san. I wish that I could somehow make him feel better."

Shortly afterwards Toya walked in and was helping their dad to walk to his bed. "Thanks, kaiju, for all of the help," Toya whispered to Sakura quietly.

"I am not a kaiju!" Sakura sternly whispered to Toya. "Baka ni-san..."

Later that day, close to supper time, Sakura walked over to Tomoyo's house. "Tomoyo-chan, how's your mom? Is she alright?" she asked, after all, Tomoyo's mom was like a mother to her.

"Yes, thanks to your brother," Tomoyo answered. "Please Sakura-chan, would you join us for supper tonight?"

Sakura thought for a moment. She knew that she would have to be back before sunset, but if she ate quickly she could manage it. "Sure, I'd love to if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"Great!" exclaimed Tomoyo.

Sakura ate quickly and then started to walk home, she only had a few minutes before the sun would set. She stopped suddenly because she thought that she had seen someone running in the shadows.

"Sakura-chan!" came a shout from in the distance. Sakura jumped up and spun around in the air just to see that it was Tomoyo that was behind her. "You forgot your coat at my house and I came to bring it to you."

"Thanks Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said and then the two parted, the both of them heading in their separate ways. Sakura was almost home when the sun set.

Tomoyo was running home, trying to get back to her house before sunset. She looked to the west and saw that the sun was starting set. She was about halfway to her house when the sun finished setting. She started to run faster then, afraid of what lay in the dark. Someone jumped out in front of her. She screamed as loud as she could, but noone came to her aid. "Help! Okaa-san! Sakura-chan! Someone!"

**A/N:** Hi, how did you like the first chapter. You'll need to read the next chapter to find out what happens next, he he. Please **review** and tell me how you like my story so far. If you can see that little purple box in the lower left hand corner that says, _Submit Review_, just press the _Go_ button beside it and type a few words, noting fancy, just let me know that you read this chapter that's all, I would like it if you would at least include any suggestions and/or comments and tell me what you wanna see in this fic.


	2. Ninja Attack

**Summary:** Sakura and her family live in the Takarin, where it is dangerous after sunset. One night, after the disappearance of her friend, Sakura leaves to go on a journey to seek out the danger and destroy it once and for all, and she even gets some help along the way.

**Disclaimer:** Wait, no, you've got it all wrong, I own CCS. You see, I own CCS in my dreams, and this story is one of my dreams, thus hence, I own CCS...

**Rising Angel:** She's lost it... completely lost it...

**Nanie-san:** I have not! Well, on with the story! And remember to **read and review!!!)**

**A/N: **Hi, I would like to thank Lina, my very first reviewer for this fic, so Thank You Lina, you totally rock!! Anyways, I hope that you like this chapter, as I stated up above, please both read and review, thanks.

_Previously:_

"_Thanks Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said and then the two parted, the both of them heading in their separate ways. Sakura was almost home when the sun set._

_Tomoyo was running home, trying to get back to her house before sunset. She looked to the west and saw that the sun was starting set. She was about halfway to her house when the sun finished setting. She started to run faster then, afraid of what lay in the dark. Someone jumped out in front of her. She screamed as loud as she could, but noone came to her aid. "Help! Okaa-san! Sakura-chan! Someone!" _

**Chapter 2: **Ninja attack

Tomoyo screamed louder and louder, but still no one came to to her aid. The figure in front of her quickly jumped behind her and covered her mouth with his hand and then kicked the back of Tomoyo's legs with his left leg so that she would no longer be supporting herself. Tomoyo did the first thing that she could think of, she bit his hand, hardly, but all was to no avail, the person's grip held fast.

The person then ran while carrying Tomoyo with him, the girl was squirming way too much, not to mention he was now bleeding because the girl had sunk her teeth into his hand. He was completely sick of her, so he threw her to the ground.

Tomoyo's body hurt. The stupid jerk had just thrown her onto the ground and it hurt like heck! She jumped up and tried to run, she just had to get away. She felt pain moving up her back. "This guy must know the martial arts," she thought and fell forward.

He kicked her over so she was lying on her back. His face was gleaming in the moonlight, that meant that the girl had seen his face, leastways, she saw what wasn't covered by the mask that he wore. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and lifted her into the air, he brought his knee to her stomach hardly.

Tomoyo felt everything going black, she was dizzy, and everything was spinning round and round. "Is this the end? Will he kill me?" were her only thoughts before everything went completely black for her.

Sakura was running. It was dark, she had to get home, she was almost there, almost there. And then he attacked with a drop kick. Sakura instinctively dodged to the side and countered with a kick aimed for his head. The man, clearly a ninja, grabbed her leg and pulled out a kunai. Sakura was scared, but she wouldn't let him know, she wouldn't show him her fear. She yanked her leg to the side, throwing the ninja off balance, and seized her chance and pulled her leg out of his grip and kicked at him with her other leg. The ninja, who had lost his balance and fallen to the ground, rolled out of the way and then flipped up into the air. Sakura saw an opportunity, the ninja was going to kick her with both legs, unless she was able to pull off her counter attack. Just as the ninja was about to land his attack Sakura jumped backwards into the air and then kicked off of the walls of a house behind her. She was now in the air with a kick aimed for the ninja, who dodged. Sakura hit the ground hardly and felt her hot blood running down her back, she then realized it, the ninja had a kunai with him. He must have cut her back as she was doing her attack, after all, she did pass by him as she landed. The ninja ran towards her and attacked her with a sword that he kept at his hip. Sakura screamed out in pain as she felt the sword pierce her left side, just slightly beneath her breasts.

Toya was worried, Sakura had went to her friend's house and still wasn't back even thought the sun had set. All of a sudden he turned his head to the side, had he heard it? It sounded like Sakura's scream. Was his baby sister in danger? Toya ran out the door with lightning speed, only hesitating for a moment to grab a lantern. "SAKURA!" he shouted while running faster and faster as the seconds passed. In response he heard not Sakura's calling for him, but her scream filled with pain. And at this he ran yet even faster, running to save his sister. And then he saw him, a ninja he appeared to be. And then his sister, his dear sister, lying on the ground, her blood flowing from a wound beneath her breasts. "YOU IDIOT!" he screamed at the ninja. "YOU STUPID, IDIOTIC, DEMONIC THING!" Toya was filled with rage, how dare this stupid thing hurt his dear little sister.

"Ahh, so you to want to fight me. I can only warn you that you'll lose," the ninja said. A smirk was hidden beneath his mask, a black mask that he wore to hide his identity. He rarely spoke, because that would reveal his voice, a dangerous thing to do indeed it was, so these people would have to die. They should consider themselves lucky to have heard his voice before their deaths, many in the past had not.

Toya set down the lamp upon the ground and then ran the next twenty feet to the ninja and threw a punch towards his face. The ninja caught his fist and kicked him in the gut. Toya looked at his poor sister, she was sitting up? "Sakura, don't move, you'll make it worse for yourself!" he shouted to her, and just seeing what that ninja had done to her filled him with new energy and determination, he would not permit himself to lose. A ninja had hurt their father, and now his sister, he had to get revenge on this ninja, even if he wasn't the same one as that who attacked his father.

Sakura may have been down before, but she was not out of the fight yet. She couldn't leave it to Toya to finish this guy off alone, besides, this was _her_ fight. The ninja had chosen to pick on _her_, so _she_ personally was gonna teach him a lesson about manners. She finished standing up, the worst was over, she was up now, she knew that she could stand. "Ahh!" she screamed as she ran towards the ninja, holding out his kunai. She had seen it lying on the ground, he had accidently dropped it after cutting her back, she had deftly grabbed it while falling, and now she threw it at the remotely surprised ninja.

He turned when her heard her cry, he saw his kunai flying towards him, he felt pain exploding in his gut as he fell towards the kunai. "You," he said in an evil whisper as he looked at Toya while the kunai neared him, but he directed his word towards both of the idiots. The girl for using his kunai, and her brother for kicking him closer to it. Pain exploded through his arm, but he just smirked beneath his mask. "You really think that pain affects me." He laughed an evil laugh, something else he didn't routinely let his enemies hear, so then these enemies must be double lucky, even perhaps triple lucky because they had also managed to injure him. The boy was walking towards him, anger and disgust was written all over his face. Apparently the boy wanted to invite pain upon himself. "Fine with me," the ninja thought.

Toya quickened his pace, soon he was no longer walking towards him, but running towards him. This man, no thing, had hurt his sister, he could see the blood on her back now too, he had given his dear little sister two bigger injuries. Toya ran and jumped up into the air. "YOU!" he shrieked as he drop kicked the ninja, who dodged his attack as if it were nothing hard to do at all. "STUPID! QUIT DODGING MY ATTACKS YOU WIMPY CREATURE!" Toya attacked again and again, but all of his attacks gained nothing but more pain for him as the ninja dodged or countered his each and every attack. Soon Toya found himself to be lying on the ground in pain.

"Ni-san!" Sakura screamed running towards Toya. The ninja stepped in her way. "You stupid, pathetic, little thing, I don't ever wanna see you again," Sakura venomously said. She then ran towards the ninja. He attacked her but didn't realize that during his attack the girl had grabbed some stuff from him. "Ha ha," Sakura said in a sing-song, "**loser**." She made sure that she put emphasis on the word "loser" while swinging the five kunai that she had grabbed from him in the air. Yes, oh yes, he was mad at her, she could see his rage through his eyes. "Oh, were these yours, I'm so sorry, but I need to borrow them for a bit so that I can defeat you. Sakura was dizzy, her body hurt badly, and to top it all off she had a tremendous headache, but that didn't matter now, she had to look and sound okay, that would make this stupid ninja even madder.

"YOU IDIOTIC MENANCE," the ninja shouted at her.

"My name's Sakura, and don't you forget it," Sakura said. She really wanted to fall unconscious at this point, but she knew that she couldn't. If she did it would be the end of both her and Toya. She felt kunai hitting her flesh and tearing at her clothes as she made her way forwards towards the ninja, she was now staggering in her walk, but it didn't matter to her. And then, she felt her shirt starting to fall down, that gave her the energy that she needed. "ALL RIGHT YOU STUPID, IDIOTIC, PATHETIC, SICK MINDED NINJA, THAT'S IT! YOU NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO A GIRL, YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR IT! I'M NOT GONNA GO EASY ON YOU NOW, NOT EVEN IF YOU BEG ON YOUR KNEES!" Sakura screamed in rage while she ran and then threw all five kunai with accuracy like a pro would have.

The ninja felt the kunai sink in before he even had time to dodge. "Where did she get such accuracy and speed skills," he thought.

"You pathetic vermin, you make me sick," Toya said as he walked over and put his foot to the ninja's gut.

The ninja then looked over to the east, the sun was starting to rise. He had to leave now. Never before had he had so much trouble capturing or even killing his targets. He looked over at the two. "I'll kill you both later," he said and then turned and ran off out of sight.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" Toya asked his sister as they started to walk back to their house.

"Yes, just fi-," Sakura's words were cut off as she collapsed upon the sand.

The sun was up now and the first person that Toya saw was Sonomi, Tomoyo's mother, running towards them. As soon as she saw Sakura she picked her up and carried her back to the two in one restaurant and inn.

"W-w-w-what h-h-happened?" Fujitaka asked as they walked in the door. He quickly ran and got out some bandages and started to boil some water. As soon as the water was boiled he cleaned Sakura and Toya's wounds and then wound some bandage around them.

"The kaiju got herself into some trouble last night, I just heard her scream and went to join in on all the fun," Toya said.

"Tomoyo's been missing ever since I sent her to take Sakura's coat to her last night. I sent her before the sun set and I haven't seen her since," Sonomi quietly said. Toya and Fujitaka could tell how worried she was.

"Don't worry, Tomoyo's a smart girl, she probably hid somewhere or something like that. She's probably just fine right now," Toya said. Even he was uncertain of his words, and by the looks of everyone else, he knew that they were too. Little did they all know that Tomoyo was the exact opposite of "just fine" at the moment. Toya looked at his little sister, she had a rough night, she was innocent and didn't deserve what had happened to her. But at least they were both still alive, there was always a bright side, and in this situation it was that they were both still alive.

**A/N:** How did you like this chapter? I was going to make it longer, but I just can't seem to get any more ideas at the moment, anyways, I'll try to make the next chapter longer. Please please please review! Please, I need reviews!

**Rising Angel: **Well, I hope that your happy 'cause your author has now officially gone crazy... Actually, she has just typed so much that she wants to give up and needs reviews to go on.

**Nanie-san:** For starters, I am not crazy, or anything near it, but yes, I do agree that I need reviews, and I would like to thank my reviewer, Lina.

**Rising Angel:** She is crazy, don't believe a single word that she says.

**Nanie-san:** Well, since I'm the author of this story, let's write some more, let's see, something like this:

_And then the ninja came and with one deft blow he sliced Rising Angel into pieces. Nanie-san fell to her knees crying as she pressed the review button on her computer screen to submit a review for the story she had been reading before the ninja came. The ninja went to attack her, but she quickly grabbed a disk from on her computer and threw it, it missed the ninja and he laughed, but it hit and shattered the nearby window. The shattered glass hit the ninja and he fell over in pain and toppled out of the window. The one who everyone called crazy was now a hero and the name caller was now dead._

**Rising Angel:** No no no! That's a horrible story, no wonder everyone calls you crazy! Anyways, everyone out there reading this, hit the review button in the corner and submit a review before she really kills me off...


	3. Leaving Home

**Summary: **Sakura and her family live in the Takarin, where it is dangerous after sunset. One night, after the disappearance of her friend, Sakura leaves to go on a journey to seek out the danger and destroy it once and for all, and she even gets some help along the way.

**Disclaimer: **

Rising Angel: Despite her every attempt to own CCS, Nanie-san does not... however I do... actually, I only wish that I did so that I could rub it in Nanie-san's face and such...

**A/N:** Hey, sorry that I didn't update for awhile... I had school, more directly Spanish class and homework(which I am beginning to deeply hate...), let's see, and I had a chorus and band concert and forensics/student congress, and I was sick for two and a half days, exct... Well, please remember to read and **review**. (Oh, and after this chapter I'm not gonna translate repeated Japanese words that I used in other chapters.)

**Japanese words:**

Kaijumonster

_Previously:_

"_Tomoyo's been missing ever since I sent her to take Sakura's coat to her last night. I sent her before the sun set and I haven't seen her since," Sonomi quietly said. Toya and Fujitaka could tell how worried she was._

"_Don't worry, Tomoyo's a smart girl, she probably hid somewhere or something like that. She's probably just fine right now," Toya said. Even he was uncertain of his words, and by the looks of everyone else, he knew that they were too. Little did they all know that Tomoyo was the exact opposite of "just fine" at the moment. Toya looked at his little sister, she had a rough night, she was innocent and didn't deserve what had happened to her. But at least they were both still alive, there was always a bright side, and in this situation it was that they were both still alive._

**Chapter 3:** Leaving Home

Sakura was floating in the air, watching as her best friend was being taken by a ninja. She tried to scream out to her, but she could not find her voice. "Tomoyo-chan," she mentally screamed. But all was to no avail, Tomoyo was gone. "Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura screamed aloud as she woke up. Her head was pounding and her chest and back hurt badly. Sakura looked over to her right. Toya was beside her bed keeping watch over her. "Toya-kun, what happened to Tomoyo-chan?" she asked.

Toya looked at his sister sadly and said, "Sonomi-san can't find her anywhere. She went missing on the same night as our fight."

"No, not Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said as tears began to flow from her eyes. "Toomooyoo-cchhaann," she sobbed while feeling her heart break. Tomoyo had been her friend since, well, since forever.

Toya looked at his sister as she cried. He hated to have to have told her what happened to Tomoyo. He was angry at himself to have even let her get hurt in the fight with the ninja. And someday he was gonna make that ninja pay for each and every little scratch on his sister's body.

Sakura got out of bed even though Toya said that she should rest more. Her body hurt badly, but that wasn't important now. She picked up a broom and started to sweep the restaurant, her father would need her help to run the place.

'Knock. Knock.'

"Coming! Just a minute!" Sakura shouted while throwing her broom behind the counter and wiping the tears from her face. She put on a fake smile and opened up the door. A boy walked into the restaurant.

"I'd like some juice," the boy said. He looked to be about twenty years of age and had deep red hair and piercing blue eyes.

Sakura quickly ran and got the man a cup of juice and then while he was drinking it ran and got Toya.

"Ahh, I am assuming that you are the owner of this restaurant and inn, may I be permitted to talk with this kind young lady? You see I've been needing someone to talk to and she looks like the perfect person to chat with," the man asked.

Toya looked over the boy. "Just talk, but if you lay a single finger on her you're dead," Toya said while glaring at the man.

"Okay, I just want to talk with her, that's all. I promise you that I won't touch her," the man said. He then waited for Toya to leave the room and motioned for Sakura to come over to him.

"What is it?" Sakura warily asked. Right now she wished that she had listened to Toya and rested some more. Her body hurt and she felt really dizzy and wanted to faint.

"Your name is Sakura Kinomoto isn't it? Remember the dream that you had, for it tells truth and truth is needed," the boy whispered.

Sakura tilted her head sideways. This man was really confusing her. "What dream?" she asked.

"The dream that you had! You must remember it, please don't' tell me that you have already forgotten it!" the man said while becoming more and more stressed out.

"Oh, you mean that dream," Sakura said in sudden realization.

"Don't you get it! You are one of the chosen ones! You are one of the key players in everything now! You have been chosen by fate!"

"Okay, okay don't get all stressed out. First things first, I don't believe in fate or destiny being set, I make my own fate and set my own destiny. Second thing is that I am just an ordinary desert girl, there's nothing special about me. I am not any sort of chosen one, and what do you mean by chosen one, chosen by who, yourself?" Sakura couldn't help but laugh a tiny bit upon seeing the man's reaction to her short speech.

"No, you are chosen because they indirectly chose you. You were indirectly chosen by them. Thus they don't realize that they chose you, or the power that you hold," said the now very irritated man. "Man is this girl ever stubborn and dense," he thought.

"Okay, this guy is completely insane and crazy," Sakura thought. "Hey, what sort of power is this that I hold that you're talking about?"

"Well, I'll be leaving now, and here's for the juice," the man said while tossing Sakura a silver coin.

"Wait, what's your name?" Sakura asked.

"Danius," the man responded and then walked out the door and left.

"Danius-kun," Sakura repeated to herself. "What did he mean by all that? He sure was mysterious."

"So, what did he want?" Toya asked his sister while walking in.

"Just someone to talk to. His girlfriend from another country ditched him right before he left for a major trip and he said that he would be returning to his home village shortly and needed advice on how to win her heart back," Sakura lied. She knew that she shouldn't lie to her brother, but she didn't want to repeat all that the man had said to Toya. If she did then Toya would probably freak out and go hunt down the man and kill him for confusing his sister. Sakura couldn't help but laugh at this thought. Toya getting mad at someone for confusing her and yet he himself confuses her a lot. "I'm gonna go upstairs and rest for a bit Toya-kun," Sakura said.

"Mmm..." muttered Sakura who just woke up from her two hour nap. "It's no fair that Tomoyo-chan has to be heck knows where and I am just here sleeping as if I have no care in the whole world," Sakura thought while holding back tears. She felt even worse because she wasn't thinking of Tomoyo when she was talking with Darius. "Toya-kun!" Sakura shouted.

"What is it kaiju," Toya asked while looking at his sister. She looked so fragile and hurt, he could never let her out of his sight again.

"I wanna go out and find Tomoyo-chan," said a determined Sakura.

"B-b-but," Toya stammered. How could he let his little sister go out into the dangerous world all by herself to find Tomoyo-chan. "Ha! If father agrees to you going, then I must go with you!" shouted the now proud boy. He couldn't let Sakura go by herself, so he would go with her.

"But then who will help father run the inn and restaurant?" Sakura asked. She really would like it if Toya went with her but someone had to help their father out too.

Toya was thinking about what his sister had just said. "Sonomi-san could come and help father. After all, Sonomi must be lonely living all by herself now, and father would be lonely without us around." Toya found himself to be really cleaver now. He just thought of how he could go with his sister, get someone to help his father, and he had even rigged a way that he could see his sister when she was talking with the man. He couldn't hear what they said, but at least he could see if he tried to pull anything or make his little sister cry. And to top things off, because it was Sakura's idea, he would make Sakura ask and he would just fill in the extras.

"Father, may I please go out into the world and find Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked her father. She felt anxious now. What if her father said no? Would he be angry at her for asking?

"Yeah, and I'll go with the kaiju and protect her. Also, while we're gone Sonomi-san can come and stay with you, well, what do you think?" added Toya.

Fujitaka carefully considered what his children had just said. It was true that if no one went to rescue her, Tomoyo would probably die. He thought of Nadeshikoand what had happened to her. No one knew her fate or what had become of her, only that they had taken her. He couldn't let the same fate befall upon Tomoyo, even if it meant letting his only son and only daughter leave and put themselves into danger. They deserved to leave this little desert town and see more of the world and Sakura deserved to see her friend again. "You may both go, and I wish you the best of luck on your journey," Fujitaka sadly said. He knew that he had to let them go, yet it pained his heart ever so.

Soon after that Toya and Sakura had packed up their few belongings and gold and silver coins that they had earned over the years and then the next morning at the break of dawn they put some food into a pack and then left.

Sakura looked back at her desert town, sad to be leaving, but yet knowing that she must go. She had just bade her father and Sonomi farewell just minutes ago, but it felt like it had been hours, even days ago.

Toya didn't look back, he had to be strong and looking back would only make him feel weak. He bade his father and Sonomi goodbye and silently whispered that he promised to return and that when they returned it would be after they got Tomoyo. Of course, if Tomoyo was dead they would take her body back to be buried among her other dead ancestors, but they did not want to think of that.

By noon that day Sakura and Toya were far from the little village that they lived at for so many years. They were passing by a small stream when Toya suggested that they stop and eat lunch. So Sakura then took out four slices of bread from the pack of food that they brought and spread some grape jelly over them. She licked her lips at the thought of the jelly. In the desert there was nothing to make jelly from, so only when a traveler was passing through that was willing to trade them jelly did they get it. She handed Toya his two slices of jellied bread and then greedily bit into her own. After wolfing down the first piece she slowly ate the other, savoring the taste of the jelly on her tounge. "Toya-kun," she asked, "how will we find Tomoyo, and how will we know where to look?"

"Easy, they aren't just gonna stick around here and wait for us to come. They took Tomoyo-chan and surely had enough common sense to figure that we would come after her, so they're probably long gone by now. Leastways, the ones who took Tomoyo-chan and Tomoyo-chan are probably long gone by now. They probably still are at the town waiting for the next person who comes out at night," Toya responded.

After they ate Toya and Sakura headed out again. Sakura looked forwards, but her heart looked back. She missed her father already, but she couldn't look back now, so looked off into the distance of the way they were to go. "Look forward and reflect back, while grasping the now," she thought to herself. A traveler had said it once. He had said that she should look forward and then she would be prepared for what lay ahead, but that she should reflect to the past as to not repeat the past's mistakes and remember the lessons that she had learned. He then said to remember the now, for she was moving in the present, she was not yet in the future and no longer going on in the past, she must learn the new lessons of the present.

**A/N:** Merry Christmas, this chapter is a Christmas present from me to you! Well, hoped that you liked the chapter!

**Nanie-san:** Yup, this is my present to you! So, now as a present to me you can all hit that little purple button in the corner and review! (Oh how happy reviews make me!)

**Rising Angel:** Merry Christmas all! I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas! -hands present to Nanie-san-

**Nanie-san:** Ohh, for me, thanks! -hands a present to Rising Angel- Hehe, well, guess that's it for now!

**Rising Angel:** Yeah, she's gotta go cook Christmas Cookies now! And I even get to be the official taste tester! (I'll eat 'em all...)

**Nanie-san:** No! I don't need a taste tester! Off with you! New chapter for story:

_And thus Nanie-san befriended Sakura who was the newly crowned queen of Saranitin. Because Rising Angel ate all of the cookies and tried to steal her story Nanie-san pleaded and begged Sakura for her help. In response Sakura had Rising Angel made the official cook, but she would not be allowed to taste any of the cookies that she made, Nanie-san lived happily ever after!_

_The End._

**Rising Angel:** Poor me! I'm lucky she doesn't officially make that a part of the story...


	4. New Allay and Encounter With Magic

**Summary: **Sakura and her family live in the Takarin, where it is dangerous after sunset. One night, after the disappearance of her friend, Sakura leaves to go on a journey to seek out the danger and destroy it once and for all, and she even gets some help along the way.

**Disclaimer: **I own CCS! Actually, I don't, Clamp does... But it would be cool if I did... Anyways, I do own this plot!

**A/N: **Hey, sorry I haven't updated in a while... been kinda busy exct... Anyways I hope you like the chapter, remember to submit a review when your done reading... (Grins evilly, I love reviews)

_Previously_

_After they ate Toya and Sakura headed out again. Sakura looked forwards, but her heart looked back. She missed her father already, but she couldn't look back now, so looked off into the distance of the way they were to go. "Look forward and reflect back, while grasping the now," she thought to herself. A traveler had said it once. He had said that she should look forward and then she would be prepared for what lay ahead, but that she should reflect to the past as to not repeat the past's mistakes and remember the lessons that she had learned. He then said to remember the now, for she was moving in the present, she was not yet in the future and no longer going on in the past, she must learn the new lessons of the present._

**Chapter 4:** New Allay and Encounter With Magic

"Toya-kun, look a town!" Sakura shouted to her brother. They had been traveling for a week now and Sakura was excited to see a town. They could find an inn and get a good night's rest, real food and even perhaps a bath, and then there's always looking around the market place for anything interesting and for food for their journey.

"Yeah, so now all that's left is finding the local inn," Toya said. He didn't sound or look excited, but deep down he was, after all this was defiantly better than the uncivilized wilderness.

"Excuse me miss, are you looking for the inn. Just follow me and I'll lead you," said a boy to Sakura while kneeling down a kissing her hand. Sakura blushed at the boy's action, but Toya got angry.

"Leave my little sister alone you!" Toya screamed at the boy who in turn just looked up at Toya and smiled.

"I'm terribly sorry to offend you friend, I meant no harm to your sister," the boy responded. He was seventeen and had azure eyes and deep indigo hair.

Toya looked at the boy, he seemed like a nice boy. "It's alright, but don't do that again if you know what's good for you," he said hoping that the boy would heed his warning.

"Don't mind him, he's just a little bit over protective," Sakura said kindly. "By the way my name's Sakura Kinomoto and this is my brother Toya, pleased to meet you."

"I'm pleased to meet you too, my name's Eriol Hiragazawa," said the boy.

Sakura looked at him, she really liked his kindness, it rivaled that of Tomoyo's. Thinking of Tomoyo made Sakura sad, she now missed her home more than ever.

"Looking sad doesn't suit a happy face like yours. Come I'll take you to the inn, and perhaps I could cheer you up along the way and come to know what brought you two all the way out here," Eriol said with kindness written on his face and painted through his words.

Soon they were at the local inn and while Toya was getting them a room Sakura sat down to talk to Eriol. Soon she had told him all about their village, why no one went out at night, Tomoyo's kidnaping, their journey to find her and now her homesickness and wishing that Tomoyo were found. All the while Eriol listened to Sakura's story without interrupting and with thorough understanding of it all.

"Why, you seem to have quite the story don't you," he said when she had finished telling him her tale. "Here allow me to buy you a drink, you must be thirsty from telling me all that." And with that he went and returned shortly with a drink for her.

"Thank you for your kindness Hiragazawa-kun," Sakura said politely.

"You may call me by my first name, we don't need all the formalities here, after all, aren't we friends?"

She smiled upon hearing this, friends. He already considered her a friend and trusted her as one. Sakura supposed that she already trusted him as a friend too because she had told him her story and her feelings of missing home, and to top things off he didn't treat her different because she missed Tomoyo and was homesick, in fact his cheerful attitude seemed to make her feel happy. Just then Toya walked over.

"C'mon, time to go up to our room now kaiju," he muttered.

"I'M NOT A KAIJU!" Sakura screamed out loud startling both Eriol, the inn keeper and Toya. "Ohh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scream," she apologized. Everyone then, herself included, began to laugh at her outbreak.

"It's alright Sakura," Eriol said. "And now if you'll excuse me I'll have to be going for I've got business to attend to and besides I'm sure you have your own business to attend to also. But please let me know in advance before you leave." Then he walked away with those words for a parting. No, he wasn't going to say goodbye yet, for they all weren't truly parting yet, he would still see them later and until they left the village, which he figured wouldn't be until the next day at least.

Toya looked at his little sister. She looked really dirty from their days of travel. "I'm gonna take a nap, I had the guy that runs this place have someone prepare a bath for you, you need it."

"Yes, thank's Toya. I'll go and bathe now, I can't wait to wash all this dirt and grime out of my hair and out from under my fingernails and off my skin," she responded. She was happy to be able to finally take a bath. It felt like years since she had taken a decent bath when really it had been only a week.

Sakura sighed as she felt the warm water surround herself, it felt so good to her, after all her recent baths were in a cold stream and lasted barely two minutes. "Life is good," she muttered out loud to no one in particular other than herself. About a half hour later Sakura looked down at her bare skin and smiled, she had somehow managed to scrub all the dirt off of herself and she had even set out a clean outfit to put on after she finished her bath. She slowly stepped out of the tub of water and started to dry off with a towel and then slipped on her outfit. "Maybe onii-chan will let me go and buy a new outfit while we're here," she thought. "Then again we are tight on money and we'll probably have to put all that we have to getting food along the way. I wonder if we'll possibly have to stop coming to places like this and sleep outside the towns in the future."

"Hey kaiju, you almost done? Ya know that your skin's gonna get all pruney like if you stay in there for too long," Toya said to his sister, he got such satisfaction from teasing her, it was so fun.

"Yes I'm done," Sakura said while running towards Toya and staring up at him. "When did you get up from you nap?" she asked.

"About twenty seconds ago, why?"

"Oh never mind, I'm gonna go and take a nap now, all that traveling has wiped me out," she said while falling onto the bed and falling asleep before her head even hit the pillow.

"She looks so cute and innocent when she's asleep," he thought, but in all actually she was going through a rough time and Toya felt bad for her because of so. He carefully slid the covers of the bed out from under her and placed them over her body. "Sleep well Sakura-chan," he whispered, little did he know that in her sleep Sakura had heard him and slightly smiled in content at it.

Sakura slowly awoke to find the sun's setting rays shining on her face as she awoke. "Wow, I must have slept the day away," she thought. She looked over to the other bed to see if Toya was in it and too her surprise he wasn't. "Toya-kun!" she called out. She really hoped that he hadn't gone out and left her here alone, she wanted to see the shops and such too.

"Boo!" whispered Toya in Sakura's ear. He was standing behind her and laughed as his sister shrieked and spun around to face him.

"Oh my goodness, you really scared me Toya-kun," she said.

"Well I see that you're wide awake now, and you being scared was the whole point in doing it. What did you expect me to do, scare you for no reason at all?"

"You still didn't have to scare me. Why didn't you get me up earlier, I'm not gonna be able to fall asleep now and then I'll be tired all through tomorrow."

"Knowing you you'll get your sleep tonight anyways and be full of energy tomorrow. At least you'd better be full of energy tomorrow because after we get some more food we're leaving."

Sakura looked down. She really wanted to stay for longer and be with Eriol a bit more, he really intrigued her, let's just say she found him to be quite interesting and mysterious. "Alright, but may I at least have some time to look around the shops tomorrow even if I don't get to buy anything.

Toya looked over at his sister's pleading face. He really wanted her to be able to look around, but the sooner they left the better. He thoroughly thought about what his sister requested and finally came to the decision that if she got up early that she could look around and they could still make good timing. "Fine, if you get up earlier than usual you can get to look around for a tiny bit. But just remember, no buying anything, we'll need our money for later for buying food and supplies for during our journey. Something makes me feel that it isn't gonna be a short one." Little did Toya know that his words were true, their journey would be easy or short but instead hard and long and filled with action.

Sakura then lay her head down on the pillow. Even though she had just slept the day away she now felt like she could sleep more. She would have a long day ahead of her and need all of the energy and strength that she could get. "Goodnight Toya-kun, see ya in the morning. And remember that you promised to let me go shopping."

"Yeah I will, goodnight Sakura-chan," Toya whispered in return to his sister before he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Sakura watch as a ninja was running towards her. She was in some sort of battle. All of a sudden she felt herself go flying and the ninja coming to deliver the final blow to her. And then, she woke up. It had all been a nightmare. Beads of sweat rolled down Sakura's face and body. The sun was just rising. Perfect, thanks to her horrible nightmare she had woken up early. "There is no coincidence only necessity," she thought. It was a saying that Toya had once told her after she had called a peculiar series of events a coincidence. "Toya-kun, time to get up, I wanna get my shopping done," she said to her sleeping brother who then rolled over and got out of bed. Sakura walked over to a basin of cold water and began to wash her face with it, she then went over to her bag and pulled out a fresh outfit for the day. She had been planing on doing their laundry while they were in the village, but sadly she had slept through the daylight the day before and couldn't do it today because they were leaving, so she would have to do it later.

Sakura looked through the town shops with Toya and soon they had found some good food items to take with them for on their journey. While they were shopping they just so happened to pass by Eriol.

"Oh, good morning Eriol-kun," Sakura greeted her friend that she had met the day before.

"Good morning Sakura-chan, Toya-kun," Eriol greeted in reply while Toya just nodded his greeting. "What brings you to the market?"

"We're leaving today so Toya-kun and I are getting some food for our journey and I'm going to do a tiny bit of looking around for a bit afterwards," responded the cheery girl.

"Would you allow me to accompany you while you shop and perhaps even a bit on your journey?" the azure eyed boy asked them, more directly Toya.

"Fine," grumbled Toya. He didn't want this boy around his sister, but he trusted that he wouldn't try anything and that he was a good, kind and honest boy and may even be a bit of a help to them. "We'd be happy if you would accompany us on our journey."

Sakura looked at all the lovely things in the stores, so many of these things she hadn't even seen or heard of before. And guess what, they had jelly! Evidently one of the men had a visitor come and trade him tons of it! With a bit of convincing Sakura managed to get Toya to let her get three jars of jelly.

Eriol looked at Sakura's excitement as she wandered from place to place looking at all his village had, it was true that his village had more than some others but he had once been to a village that had tons more when he was little. Sakura reminded him of a child, she was so happy and excited over the smallest of things, just like the girl he'd met years ago at a smaller, poor village. But now wasn't the time to think about her, he hadn't seen her since that day, but he still felt that he loved her, he would never give up looking for her and maybe even one day... well he couldn't get his hopes up, after all he didn't even know the maiden's name less than the name of the village that he'd seen her in. The chances of them meeting and her not having a boyfriend and still remembering him were slim to none. "Oh well," he quietly sighed as he put the memory behind him.

Soon Sakura, Toya and Eriol had left the town and were headed out into the wilderness again. Eriol looked behind them, he could sense something following them. "I'll have to act now to catch him off guard," the boy thought to himself. "Well I hope the boy and his sister don't freak after seeing this... Magical forces come to my aid!" he said as a key he wore on a chain around his neck suddenly changed into a long staff. He held out the staff towards where he felt the presence and a long beam of light shot from it.

Sakura watched in amazement as her friend summoned a long staff of sorts and shot a flash of light behind them. In moment's a ninja fell from a large and bushy tree about ten feet behind them.

"Calm down now, you aren't dead, just stunned. Now tell me who sent you and where can I find him?" Eriol asked the ninja while walking over to him and standing above him. The ninja just smirked and sprang up and kicked Eriol back. "What the heck, that spell should have been strong enough to paralyze you for about an hour."

"Well sadly it didn't. I masked my full power from you Hiragazawa, I'm smarter than to let my enemy sense my full power," the ninja sneered.

"What the heck is going on!" Toya shouted. "The is no such thing as magic, no way no how!"

"Actually there is," Eriol matter-of-factly informed him. "You may as well get used to it too because now that you're away from you little village and out in the wilderness your going to see quite a lot of it, and besides you sister can use it too if she receives proper training."

"Prepare to die!" the ninja shouted as he ran towards Eriol while pulling out three kunai and throwing them at the him.

Eriol watched as the kunai came nearer and nearer to him, and a small smirk was to be seen on his face.

Toya stood in shock as he watched the boy fight the ninja. There was no such thing as magic, there was no such thing as magic, but then yet what was it that he just saw with his very eyes. "Perhaps it's time I start believing," he thought to himself.

Sakura screamed out as she saw the kunai nearing Eriol, everything was playing itself out in slow motion, she didn't wanna see Eriol get hurt, but yet he made no movement as if to dodge the kunai and gave no hints as if he were to do it.

**A/N:** So, how'd you like it? Is it good? Anyways you can tell me in a review, your suggestions, thoughts and ideas are always welcome.

**Nanie-san:** Happy New Year's All!!

**Rising Angel: **Yup! Happy 2005!

(Nanie-san and Rising Angel now begin to party!)


	5. Tathrun and Yens

**Disclaimer: **I. Do. Not. Own. CCS. Clamp does...

**A/N:** Hi! Sorry for the long update but highschool has been keeping me pretty busy... Anyways enjoy!

_Previously: _

_Sakura screamed out as she saw the kunai nearing Eriol, everything was playing itself out in slow motion, she didn't wanna see Eriol get hurt, but yet he made no movement as if to dodge the kunai and gave no hints as if he were to do it._

**Chapter 5:** Tathrun and Yens

The kunai was getting closer and closer to Eriol. Two feet away, one foot and six inches away, one foot away, six inches away...

Eriol smiled while jumping just as the kunai was two inches away from him. The kunai sailed through the air where he was standing just moments ago.

The ninja looked over in shock at where Eriol was just standing a moment ago and it was too late before he realized that Eriol was flying through the air towards him. "No!" he screamed as he felt the boy's staff hit against his head and then the consuming darkness that was falling over him.

"Yay! Go Eriol-kun!" Sakura cheered as the ninja fell to the ground unconscious. "That was great, you really had me scared."

Toya walked over to the ninja and glared down at him. "Sakura-chan I believe that Dad had put some rope in your bag for any just in case times, is it still there?" he asked.

"Uhh, I'll check," Sakura said and then took her pack off of her back and began to dig through it. "Found it!"

Eriol took the rope from Sakura and began to wind it around the ninja's body with a bit of Toya's help.

"Once he's conscious we'll interrogate him and find out who he's working for," Toya said while still glaring at the ninja. "I'm certain that he's connected to whomever captured Tomoyo-chan."

"It may be awhile before he's conscious, it may not be wise if we wait. After all aren't we leaving this early as to make good timing," Eriol said while looking over at Sakura. "It's amazing that she's able to hide her aura so well for not knowing how to use her magic," he thought to himself.

"Hey Eriol-kun get your eyes away from my sister!" Toya growled angerly.

"Gomen nasai Toya-kun I didn't mean to be looking at your sister, it's just that she reminds me so of a girl that I used to know and that I love," Eriol said, it wasn't a complete lie, for Sakura did remind him of her, it was just a partial lie.

"So they beat Gathran did they?" thought a masked man while watching the scene below. He had hidden his aura so that he could just watch and not partake in the battle between his partner and the group of three down below. "So then the azure-eyed boy has a good deal of magical ability." He then took a poisoned dart and flung it at his partner's neck, he would be dead in just moments.

Sakura turned her head to the side just in time to see a dart hitting the unconscious ninja's neck. "Uh guys, I don't think that we'll have to worry about deciding wether to wait for him or not any longer," she said.

Eriol and Toya both looked over at him at the same second and saw the dart in his neck.

"I guess that we should leave now then," Toya said.

"Someone had to have thrown that dart, but who?" Eriol thought. "I can't sense anyone and if he could kill him why didn't he take advantage of us and kill us too?" "Yes, we should leave now," he said while the smile that he usually wore faded from his face and changed into a frown. "We don't know who killed him but somebody had to have thrown that dart and it wasn't one of us for sure."

Toya looked at Eriol and nodded his head. "Yeah, we should get out of here right now." And with that the three resumed their journey traveling farther and farther into the wilderness.

They got farther and farther away from the scene of their fight but yet still Eriol didn't let his guard down. He was smiling once again and acting normal but part of his mind was sensing for anymore auras that their may be. He knew that he wasn't as strong as most and that they had fought a weak ninja, but he couldn't count on their luck holding up.

The ninja Tathran ran back to the hideout of his master. "Master, I regret to tell you that Gathrun has died. I watched his battle between him and the azure-eyed boy, the boy has some magic and what he knows how to do he does well. Also, the girl that you wanted and her brother are traveling with him," he said.

"I could care less about the boy and the girl's brother, it's the girl that I want. For all I care the two boys can die in a battle, just make sure that the girl is brought back to me alive," said Tathran's master.

"Yes, my master," responded Tathran.

"And tell me, have you killed the one I ordered you to have dead yet?"

"No master, we are trying but all of our attempts seemed to have failed." Tathran's voice fell into disappointment at this, he had sent some of his best partners out after that boy and still he had yet to die.

"Just make sure that he's dead before he finds us and don't let him end up with the other group, he's deadly enough to us on his own so the last thing we need is him joining up with them."

Tathran bowed to his master silently and then left. "Stupid boy!" he silently cursed. "Why do you have to put me through so much darned trouble." He arrived at a room and walked in without bothering to knock. "Yens," he said to the man in the room, "you are now my knew partner, prepare yourself for battle with the best of the best."

The ninja, now know as Yens, bowed to Tathran. "I am glad you choose me as your partner," he said. "I promise to be stronger and serve you better than Gathrun and the rest. And I need not time to prepare for battle, I am prepared already and always am, I long for a good fight."

"Good," smirked Tathran. "Be better than the rest and serve me as my partner well. If you do so then I can promise you a good fight, after all you are the best suited for this job."

Yens bowed with a smirk upon his face. "I will be better than the rest," he thought. "I will be the best and beat the strongest of opponents."

Tathran looked at Yens skeptically. "Meet me at dusk tonight," he then muttered while leaving the room. "By the way all of my partners thus far have thought that they were the best and so on and all of them have ended up dead."

Yens looked at his partner's form in the doorway and thought, "but I'm not like all of them. I'm stronger."

"Toya-kun, can we stop for supper yet?" Sakura asked. They hadn't eaten since breakfast that day and she had been getting hungry. So far Eriol and Toya didn't want to stop to eat, they were too busy trying to make as much progress as they could before nightfall.

Eriol looked over at Sakura. The girl looked like she was going to fall over from both hunger and exhaustion any minute now. "Perhaps it is time that we stop to eat," he suggested to Toya while pointing over to Sakura who was now lying against a rock exhausted. "She's not gonna make it much more than a few feet farther today," he quietly added so that only Toya could hear.

"Fine, we'll stop here and eat and then I'll decide what we do next," said Toya giving in to Eriol and Sakura's wishes.

Upon hearing that Sakura placed a small blanket on the ground and began to place some stuff from her pack onto it. "Toya-kun, could you go and get some fire wood?" she asked pleadingly. "I can make us a better supper if I have a fire to cook over."

So then Toya set out to go find some sticks and such so that Sakura could have a fire to cook over. "Geez it's not like we need hot food or anything," he grumbled to himself while knocking down a thin tree. "This better be good enough for her for now."

Eriol watched as Toya neared them with what appeared to be a thin tree. He ran to meet him and began to break the branches off and arrange them in a neat order on the ground. After that was done he took some stones and placed them around the pile of sticks and summoned his staff. He then muttered a spell and pointed his staff towards the pile of wood and it caught flame.

"Domo arigato Eriol-kun," Sakura said as she began to place a pot over the fire. "Supper will be ready in about ten minutes if you two want to take a quick nap."

Ten minutes later the three sat around their small fire eating the porridge that Sakura had made.

"This isn't half bad," Toya said while eating his food wholeheartedly.

"It's really quite good, thank you very much Sakura-chan," said Eriol with a smile. "You're quite the cook."

Upon hearing this Sakura began to blush. "I'm not that good really, if you want good you should try Tomoyo-chan's cooking," she said quietly becoming saddened upon the thought of poor Tomoyo.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan we'll find your friend, I promise," said Eriol. "As long as it's not too late we'll find her," he thought, not wanting to mention that part to her.

Tathrun and Yens crept quietly through the woods masking their auras with their magic.

"So who's my target to be?" Yens asked. Patience was something that he had mastered a long time ago but for some reason he couldn't keep down the excitement of his upcoming fight, especially because he was Tathrun's new partner and had a chance to prove himself the best.

Tathrun chose to ignore Yens' question for the moment and continue on in silence, the man could be patient for a bit longer. He stretched out his senses feeling for the trio that he had fought earlier, the weren't far now, just about a mile further from where they were. "Don't fail me like the last ones did Yens, because if you do then you'll end up dead just like them. Besides you're stronger than them making you more valuable and as a bonus just for you if you beat this group that I'll take you to an even stronger and better opponent that would be more worthy of your time."

Yens smiled at this. "So who is my target to be?" he asked again.

"Patience Yens patience, don't get too excited, though I do suppose that it's time to tell you. You're fighting a group of three. The oldest of the group is a tall boy, he shouldn't be too hard to fight. Let's see, yes I believe that there is another boy, one with deep navy hair and azure eyes, he is who your main conflict will be with. His magic isn't the best of the best but he knows all that he can do and what he knows he knows well. And last there is a girl, the oldest's younger sister. She shouldn't be any problem at all, though she did hold off another ninja before so don't underestimate any tricks that she may try to pull."

Eriol looked over at his companions, Toya was almost asleep and his sister was already soundly sleeping her well deserved, hard earned sleep. He was just about to fall asleep himself when he heard a noise off in the near vicinity. He jerked his head upright and in the direction of the sound, did he dare fall asleep? What if it was an enemy, but yet it was true that it could just be an animal of sort. He sat up, his mind preparing for battle, but his body still wanting to rest.

"We'll wait for another ten minutes, let him fall into a safe sense of security thinking that it was just an animal that he heard," Tathrun said, all to late for his partner had just jumped on ahead farther, heedless of his warning.

"Die!" he shouted while jumping from a tree with his sword thrust out, a sword that was ready to pierce through the heart of any who opposed him.

Eriol jumped out of the way and tripped over the form of his sleeping companion who then screamed and woke with a start.

Toya heard a deep male voice shouting something and then his sister screaming and bolted upright instantly. "What the heck is happening!" he shouted, though it mattered little for by this point he already had realized that they were under attack.

Yens held out his sword, ready to attack, and then ran towards the pile made up of the navy haired boy and the girl.

Toya jumped forwards and grabbed onto Yens wrist, he couldn't let the ninja jerk hurt his sister or their new friend, he wasn't as low as to just sit around while some freak started attacking his comrades. "Hey freaky ninja wannabe jerk," he said to the ninja while smirking, "isn't it really cowardly to attack those that are lying helplessly on the ground?"

Tathrun watched as Yens attacked the group. "What an idiot!" he thought. "Sure just go straight for an attack and wake them all up when a sneak attack would have been better, and it didn't help that you shouted 'die' out loud for them all to hear!" He was now in a bad mood, if it weren't for Yens' not so surprise attack they could already be done and back at base with a pleased master. "Fine, this is your battle, just you, all by yourself," he thought angrily.

Toya groaned in pain as Yens kicked him in the gut. Apparently Yens didn't like it when people insulted him or grabbed onto his wrist.

Eriol stood up and slowly walked over towards Yens while summoning his staff. "You, my friend, have taken us too lightly for your own good."

**A/N:** Yatta! It's done! Please review, after all reviews make me really super happy... The more reviews I get the sooner I'll update and I bet you all just want to know what happens next in the fight and who their other target is, hehe. Well ja ne for now!


	6. Heck Yeah!

**Disclaimer: **Let's just make this nice and simple. I'll even talk nice and slow for you. I. Do. Not. Own. CCS. BUT, I do own this plot!

**A/N:** Sorry for the long update... I've been busy with forensics and looking online for a kimono (my mom said that I could get one so, well yeah ) Anyways thanks for being so faithful to me. And as for the all time master you'll just have to read to find out, tehe! (And you'll also have to review) By the way I don't want to use any swear or curse words so if things sound slightly weird below that's why. If you want you can pretend that some other not so nice word is there, kay?

_Previously:_

_Eriol stood up and slowly walked over towards Yens while summoning his staff. "You, my friend, have taken us too lightly for your own good."_

**Chapter 6: **Heck Yeah!

"Ohh, I'm tremblin' now," Yens said sarcastically. "Just watch out with what you do or I may be tempted to hurt your friend here."

"Leave him alone!" said Sakura defiantly while standing up. "You had better let go of him right now or else!"

"Or else what, my dear?"

"Don't you dare call me 'my dear'!" Sakura shouted.

"To answer your question, or else I'll curse you and promise you that you'll wish you had never crossed paths with any of us," stated Eriol in a dangerously low tone of voice. He extended his staff out so that the tip was only inches away from Yens' face. "Now you will regret your actions," he said while a flash of magic and light was emitted from the tip of the staff. It hit Yens and caused him to let go of Toya and go flying back.

Yens moaned as he hit the ground. "Pathetic boy," he thought while getting up, this fight was far from over. "Prepare to meet your end for that!" he venomously hissed. "Noone ever escapes me alive."

"Well then we'll just have to be the first won't we." Eriol smiled while saying this, it was so fun to tease and torment this ninja.

Yens then lunged at Eriol while thrusting his sword out ready slice of the young boy's head. "Die now!" he shouted and then cursed loudly as the boy dodged his attack.

Eriol moved quickly to his right in attempt to dodge the ninja's attack and smiled as the ninja cursed at him because of his quick maneuver. "Mad at me are we," he said in a polite tone while watching his words make the ninja even more mad. "And here I thought that your type lacked all traces of emotion. It seems to be, my friend, that you have definitely proven me wrong and for this I apologize and ask of you for my forgiveness."

Yens felt his anger at this boy surging through his blood, powering his muscles and enlightening his mind. "You think that you're pretty smart don't you? Well too bad 'cause I've caught onto this little game of yours now. So sorry that your words aren't going to have a single effect on me." He smirked. "In fact I think that they are only going to make me stronger. Heh, you're so pathetic as to try to take down your opponents with a simple, little mind game. Though really I'm impressed that you'd try such a thing on me, you are the first. The others that may have died before they could even have a chance to mutter one single word. You're quite the genius, I'm almost sorry to kill you." He then lunged out at him. "But you see, that's an almost you stupid child."

Eriol's eyes widened in surprise as he watched the ninja near him, he was taken by surprise. Was this his end? Somehow he felt himself moving slightly to the left and something warm running down his right arm, but it was all too quick for him to truly grasp what had just happened until after it all had happened and he was lying on the ground with Sakura on top of him. It then all came into view now, Sakura had jumped over and pushed him out of the way, injuring herself while doing so. She had taken most of the blow for him.

"Are you alright Eriol-kun?" she weakly whispered while struggling to push herself up off of him. "Oh no, you're arm's hurt. It's all my fault, I wasn't quick enough. I'm so sorry." Silent tears began to roll down her face. "I should have been quicker, if I were just a bit quicker. I'm sorry, so sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"No, it's not your fault. And I'm not hurt that bad. I'd be dead if it weren't for you, so you've got no reason to be sorry. In fact, I'm the one sorry for letting you get hurt."

"But I'm the whole reason that you came here in the first place! If we hadn't stopped there and met you then you wouldn't have come with us, thus you wouldn't be hurt! I don't want you to get hurt over my cause so it is my fault and I am sorry," she sobbed. Her breathing started to become uneven and shaky, pain exploded throughout her side and she felt her arms give out beneath her and the impact of her falling back onto Eriol.

Toya looked over at his sister and their friend. "No one ever hurts my sister or dare even think of touching her friends, understood!" he hissed in a dangerously low tone. "And if anyone does they have to deal with me and I swear that I won't ever let 'em off easy. Now you've got a choice, either lie down dead right now or face my wrath which I can guarantee you will be much more painful. It's your choice, choose wisely."

"Oh I'm real scared now, I think that I'm just gonna die of fright," said Yens sarcastically. "Really I'm dyin' over here, can't you see me lying on the ground wriggling and thrashing around in pain."

That was it, Toya couldn't stand any more of it. He threw all of his anger into a punch aimed for Yens' abdomen. Yens had no time to dodge and felt himself doubling over in pain, but he couldn't let himself lose, less than be humiliated. So then he managed to drop into a low spinning kick which knocked Toya down. Toya reached out his arm and grabbed Yens' sword and threw it, the ninja scream out another curse, only aimed at him instead of Eriol this time. Yens pushed himself at Toya and punched him in the forehead with a followup of a kick aimed for his gut. Toya groaned in pain and rolled out of the way of the kick and then jumped up, landing in a tree branch not too far above. Yens was starting to get up as a dropkick landed on his back coming from above. He kicked his leg up backwards and it connected with the man of his back, causing him to fall to the ground in the process, but that was alright with him, after all he landed only a foot from his sword and his opponent had also fallen. His hand grasped the handle of his sword and upon curling his fingers around it he jumped up and ran towards Toya, heading for the kill.

Eriol watched as Yens and Toya battled each other, each of them full of rage at the other. Yens was going in for the kill, he had to do something. He slowly moved Sakura off of him and laid her gently upon the ground and heard her weak moan of pain.

"Please don't get hurt Eriol-kun," she whispered.

"I'll try not to," he promised and then picked up his staff with his left hand and ran over to the battle and thrust it out to block Yens' attack from hitting Toya. "No one messes with my friends," he growled, Yens just smirked.

"So this is how you play, is it? Two on one, how sad. Well that's fine by me, after all I'm stronger than the two of you combined. I haven't even shown you a fourth of my true power yet."

"Oh shoot, we're toast," Sakura muttered. "Wait a minute, what the heck am I thinking? We'll beat this guy if it's the last thing that we do!"

Yens smirked and started applying lots of pressure on his attack that the boy was defending. He could see the boy's arms trembling, shaking from the stress of his attack. "NOW!" he thought and pulled his sword back, Eriol toppled forwards while Yens stepped out of the way of the falling boy. "Let's end this now, shall we? Do you want to go out quickly or painfully?" he asked.

"Neither!" said Toya forcefully while standing up. His heart pounded in his ears and he could feel his blood as it surged through his veins. "Shoot I'm losing energy fast," he thought. "This is definitely not good. There's no way, no way in hades that I can loose to him!"

Yens looked over at Toya's fury. "I think it's time to eliminate him from this little dispute of ours," he thought while running at Toya and delivering a hard punch to his gut with one hand and a hard hit to the back of his neck with the other.

Toya groaned as he felt a dark blackness consuming his being. "No," he whispered as the last of consciousness slipped from him.

"So, do you two really feel that you can beat me now," Yens said venomously with arrogance in his tone.

"Heck yeah," Sakura managed to whisper with determination in her voice while standing up. She too would have to contribute to this fight, it was only fair after all they did for her. Besides it was truly her fight over her friend.

**A/N:** Hiya! I know that this chapter is kinda short/ not too long (whichever you prefer), anyways I'll try to update soon, but there's no guarantees. I do hope that you liked my chapter. I'll try to make the rest of the fight good. And thanks for all the reviews that you've all sent me (hugs to you all)


	7. Tormented Rage

**Disclaimer: **Same as usual, I don't own ccs but wish that I did...

**A/N: **Hey sorry for the really long wait, but I promise that I'll try my best to make this chapter really good, te he! Although if I make it really good you have to do your part too and submit a **REVIEW**...

_Previously:_

"_Heck yeah," Sakura managed to whisper with determination in her voice while standing up. She too would have to contribute to this fight, it was only fair after all they did for her. Besides it was truly her fight over her friend._

**Chapter 7:** Tormented Rage

Eriol lay on the ground where he fell after his fall. Toya had jumped up then, distracting Yens and now Sakura was. He slowly and quietly began to stand. Perhaps he could pull of a surprise or partly surprise attack. "Now!" he mentally screamed at himself while lunging forward at Yens with his staff held out.

Yens watched the girl with a scornful smirk upon his face. "She really looks like she thinks that she and her friends might stand a chance against me. How pathetic," he thought. He turned suddenly, he heard the faintest noise behind him. "What the he-" he managed to say before being hit in the gut by the blue eyed boy's staff. "You idiot!" he gasped while falling to the ground from the blow.

"Thank you very much, though I consider myself to be much more educated than an idiot would be," smirked Eriol, but all too soon his smirk turned into a frown as he watched Yens stand up as if nothing had just happened to him, actually as if none of their attacks had done anything to him at all. "What!" Eriol thought. "Is this guy immortal or something? No, he's human alright, and apparently using some sort of magic to enhance his ability to fight and lessen pain now too."

"Impossible!" Sakura gasped, her surprise apparent in her voice. "There's no way!"

"Oh but there is, but there is," hissed Yens in an evil tone. "And this is only the beginning of the end for you and your friends."

Sakura lifted her head up high, as if demanding respect. "No, you're wrong. This is not the end for us! We will win, even if we go through heck to do it we will win."

"This girl is getting more and more fun," Yens evilly thought. "The harsher things get the more riled up she becomes." He then held out his right hand and a small blue ball of energy began to form right above his palm. "This is specially for you, girl," he said while grinning a madman's grin. "And I'm sure that you're going to just love it. Oh yes, you'll just love it."

Eriol ran towards Yens, he couldn't let him send the blast at Sakura, it could kill her, or at least badly harm her. But his efforts were in vain, for as he was running Yens held out his left hand and sent a blast of energy at Eriol. Eriol was exhausted from all of the fighting and his body couldn't handle the excruciating pain of the energy blast anymore, he fell to the ground, everything seemed to move so slowly.

"No!" Sakura screamed out in anguish while her knees gave out beneath her. She began sobbing uncontrollably while hitting the ground with her fists. "Darn you! Darn you, darn you, darn you!"

"Now, now, I didn't offend you did I? Well it all goes to show that you won't win, I will," said Yens calmly, just trying to make the girl more agony filled. "Now if you give up maybe I'll let you live on as my personal servant for the rest of your life, how's that sound?"

The sting of this remark made Sakura grow furious, how dare he insult her dignity and loyalty to her friends like that! She stood up, tears rolling down her face faster than the rain that falls in the summertime. "You're gonna pay for that remark, and ever even daring to hurt my friends!"

"I doubt so, unless you can stop me. But I doubt that also," Yens clearly stated, sadly he didn't realize what he was getting himself into. You see when a person is overwrought with pain, suffering, and agony they lose hold of everything that they know. All they know is their pain and it consumes their very being, in essence they lose touch with the rest of the world. They can only focus on one thing, usually the thing that caused them the suffering. If they're hurt, if they're on the brink of death, it doesn't make a difference in how they act! They are filled with the pure desire to do whatever it is that they have to do and won't take notice of anything until this goal is accomplished. And this is all even more dangerous for a person who possesses magic. Their power multiplies and they become even more ruthless, with even more power to back them up. No one's words will reach them, no one's cries of pain will melt their heart. They become practically invincible, unbeatable by the rest of the world. Only the most powerful, or those that are like them, stand a chance while fighting them.

**A/N:** Well sorry that this is a really short chapter. I originally intended to make it much longer but this seemed to be like a great paragraph to end it with and I couldn't stall with the update though so... Anyways I plan to update soon but since I'm running four stories now please forgive me if I don't. Sorry that this update took a long while, but I was sick again, then to two different doctors and then the hospital so... But hey I'm doing much better now than I was before!


	8. Sakura’s Power

**A/N: **Sorry for not updating in a long, long, long time. I don't really feel like chatting at the moment so I'm just gonna move onto the darned story. ...sorry, it's not darned, I'm just in a bad mood at the moment 'cause it's hot, and I've got a headache, and my chest hurts, and my sister is blowing a plastic flute loud enough to leave my ears ringing and is being an annoying brat! Oh, and if I didn't mention it before, I've gotten a kimono now, and it's really pretty too!

**Disclaimer:** (sounding defeated) I don't own Card Captor Sakura, Clamp does.

_Previously:_

_You see when a person is overwrought with pain, suffering, and agony they lose hold of everything that they know. ... ... ... They become practically invincible, unbeatable by the rest of the world. Only the most powerful, or those that are like them, stand a chance while fighting them._

**Chapter 8: **Sakura's Power

Sakura felt all her pain and rage consuming herself. Some, when in a fit of rage can't land a single blow due to so, but when the rage and anger and pain are so great there comes a point in which the person becomes practically invincible to others.

Sakura looked up at Yens, her eyes fierce, scary, and no longer reflecting that of a pitiful girl. "You pathetic man," she said, her voice full of malice. "You'll pay miserably for having crossed me and my friends.

Yens watched as the pitiful girl that he was tormenting became overcome by rage, and he started to fill with fear unlike any that he knew before. He could tell just by looking at the girl's eyes that he had met not his equal, but rather his superior. He began to take a few steps back, trembling as he did so, only to feel pain surging up his back. The girl, the once weakling girl, had somehow put up a sort of magic barrier that was preventing him from escaping.

Sakura's body rose up in the air, her hair floated around her face. "Did you think that I'd let you go that easily? You're a fool." She then magically materialized many kunai like objects around her and magically shot them all at once at Yens.

"GAAAHHHH!" shouted out the ninja in pain as he felt her magical objects hit him and pierce his flesh. Blood ran down his body from many wounds but he still stood. He started to gather up his strength and then charged at the floating girl, who mercilessly glared at him as she held out her hand.

"Now die," she venomously said.

Yens cringed while his eyes widened as the magical death wave came nearer and nearer to him.

Eriol laid on the ground, his body full of pain. He could feel magic being used, coming from Sakura and opened his eyes slowly. He heard her mutter "now die" and saw a death attack making it's way towards Yens. "No," he whispered while forcing himself up off of the ground. He summoned his staff to him and quickly began to mutter a counter for the attack.

Yens watched in fear as his life flashed before his eyes. He was little, watching his mother make dinner, then he was 10 and practicing his abilities with his sensei, and then soon he caught up to his current age, and watched, as time seemed to slow, the spell that was to take his life near him. But then he also saw it, another spell that was overcoming that of the other one, that was dissipating it. He then saw the blue haired boy jump up and pull the girl to the ground.

"Sakura, snap out of it! Don't let your magic over come you!" Eriol shouted at her. He could see her squeeze her eyes tight shut and could feel her body trembling, she was crying.

"I'm sorry, Eriol-kun. I'm so sorry," she chocked out while sobbing. "W-w-what happened to me?"

Eriol looked over at Yens and then back at Sakura. "You got angry and let your anger and rage overcome your being, then your magic went out of control, you having not used magic before weren't ready for it's power and so it took control of you."

Eriol then forced himself to stand again and walked towards Yens. "And as for you," he said and then began to mumble a spell.

"What!" screamed Yens as he felt his body become numb. He then fell over into unconsciousness.

Eriol knew that he had just used to much magic in his current condition and knew it even better as he felt his body fall to the ground and from a sideways view saw Sakura rushing towards him.

"Eriol-kun, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," he answered, "I just used too much and too powerful of magic while my body was hurt. I'm just energy deprived at the moment, all will be better after I rest. Until then you should tend to Toya. Later on I can heal both of your injuries." Eriol then let his eyes fall closed and sleep come upon him.

Sakura walked over to her stunned onii-chan.

"What just happened and what did you just do and since when could you wield magic and-"

Sakura cut her brother off then by embracing him tightly. "I don't know," she sobbed, "I'm so confused about all of this and I don't know, ask Eriol-kun, he seems to know."

Toya looked over at the sleeping boy. "Well we may as well do as he's doing and go to bed for the night also," he said while standing up. He walked over to Eriol and picked him up and then walked over to the boy's sleeping bag and put him into it and then placed a pillow beneath the boy's head. "So you're sure that he said that he'd be okay?" he asked Sakura who nodded in response and then fell onto Toya sleeping. Evidently using magic that day had taken away more of her energy than she had imagined.

Toya picked up his sister and carried her over to her sleeping bag and then tucked her into it while making sure that she was in a comfortable position and that she had a pillow beneath her head. "Sleep well, kaiju," he said softly while smiling, his sister never ceased to amaze him.

"Yes, yes, sleep well," muttered a voice off in the far distance. "Believe me, you'll need it." Tathrun smirked to himself, this would be fun. He now knew the extent of the group's powers much better. "Now I've only got one more person to worry about," he mumbled while walking over to a darkly lit room. "And then there's you," he said while looking at the unconscious form lying on the floor. "I suppose you also count, so then I should correct myself. There's the group, and then after them there's only two people to worry about."

**A/N:** Sorry that it's short, but it does leave room to wonder"

1. Who's the other person,

and 2. Who's the unconscious form that was lying on the floor,

and 3. When am I going to post the next chapter?

**Sakura:** But on the flip side of the coin the good to all this is this is her second updated story today, her other one being _Shattered and Shattered Again_, which you should really read. My role's better in this, but it's not too bad in _Shattered..._ You know, I've got the great boyfriend and all in it... Anyways submit a review for Nanie!

**Eriol: **Yes, yes, do submit a review! They make your author happy, and they'll also inspire her to write more and make longer chapters.


	9. Loss of Hope

**A/N: **Hey it's naughty me... I update, go away horseback riding for a week, pull off one update and then what do you know I'm gonna have to go away for another week to go camping... (That means I'll have to miss Megaman NT Warrior Axess which makes me sad...)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Card Captor Sakura seeing as Clamp hasn't given it to me yet...

_Previously:_

"_Yes, yes, sleep well," muttered a voice off in the far distance. "Believe me, you'll need it." Tathrun smirked to himself, this would be fun. He now knew the extent of the group's powers much better. "Now I've only got one more person to worry about," he mumbled while walking over to a darkly lit room. "And then there's you," he said while looking at the unconscious form lying on the floor. "I suppose you also count, so then I should correct myself. There's the group, and then after them there's only two people to worry about."_

**Chapter 9: **Loss of Hope

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, due to the unbearable pain from her throbbing head. She moaned lightly as she rolled over onto her back and placed her hand over her ribs. She knew that she had broken at least three of them. She sat up slowly fully realizing then what happened.

She jumped up off of the cold metal floor, suddenly not caring how badly her head and ribs hurt. It was dark and she couldn't see well, but somehow she was able to make out the form of a door on one of the walls enclosing her. She ran over, pounding on the door for all she was worth, kicking it, doing anything to escape the place she was in.

"Let me out!" she screamed and then backed up until she hit the wall opposite of the door. She flinched due to the pain she felt burning through her body but getting out of the room was more important at the moment. The she ran forwards, jumped into the air, pulled her left leg back and pushed her right leg forward and felt pain sear up it as her foot connected with the door. She fell to the floor with a loud thud, knowing that the door still stood in place.

"Fine," she said pushing a strand of her raven hair from her face and narrowing her eyes, "there's always another way to take this door down."

Off in another room a man laughed a sinister laugh, he was amused by his underling's worries. "Really, Rateren, there's no need to go and make sure the girl doesn't escape. The door is unbelievably strong, there's no way she'll get out," he said while smirking.

"Yes, Sir, if you say so," replied Rateren.

"Yes, I say so," came the harsh voice, suddenly no longer amused.

The girl smirked, her narrowed eyes flashing with a glint of satisfaction as she felt along the door frame. Clearly, clearly whoever but this room wasn't a good engineer, he, or she, put the hinges on the inside of the room, rather than outside. A pathetic mistake that would lead to her escape. It didn't matter how strong and durable the door was if she could merely just reach over and fiddle around with the hinges and get the door open that way. In a matter of minutes the door sprung free.

The girl ran silently and quickly down the long corridor. She had to make it out before they found out, if not they'd surely catch her. "If they were so worried about me they should've chained me up. Too bad that they underestimated me!" she thought to herself. "But if they did catch me I'd be too weak to fight them off in my current condition."

"Heh," she smirked as her amber eyes gleamed, she could already see outside and they still didn't discover her.

"Trying to escape are we? Tell me, how'd you get past that nice door of mine? You're the first to ever do that?" came a cold voice from up ahead. "Apparently I should have listened to Rateren and checked on you when you were making so much noise."

"Why should I answer to the likes of you," the girl spat out venomously while moving into a battle stance. She knew that there was no way she could win, but if she could make it outside then she'd at least have a chance to run for it. But she'd have to at least get past the man, who was blocking her path.

"You know you'll lose."

"Prove it!"

The two fighters' eyes locked together, each one glaring, each one not moving. Suddenly the girl jumped up, going for a drop kick. The man dodged by jumping forwards toward where the girl had been standing previously.

"You'll have to do better than that," rang his cold voice.

"Hardly," spat the girl as she landed on the ground and ran. She knew that the man expected her to stay and fight, so he didn't think that his dodge would actually lead to her escaping.

"Never show you're back to you're opponent," the man said icily.

"To attack me would only push me further on my way!" shouted the girl while running. She looked back to see the man chasing her and then turned and ran forward with all of her might.

"You won't escape me."

The girl screamed, the man was beside her now, proving that he could match and exceed her in speed.

"Why don't you just come back with me, and then maybe I'd manage to overlook your escape, hmm?"

"Never!" His cold voice echoed through the girl's head, making her dizzy and her head pound even more than what it already was. She had known from the beginning that she'd never actually pull off escaping, but somehow some spark of hope had entered her mind. Somehow she had imagined a way, but now she saw her last glimmer of hope leaving.

The man slowed slightly, victory would again be his. He let himself stay behind the girl for a few minutes, and then jumped on her, tackling her to the ground.

The girl hit the ground hard. "Get... off... of... me..." she managed to say between deep breaths.

"Why? We were lucky to first get you, and now we can't let you go, my precious child."

"I'm not a child!" the girl screamed, though it only hurt her to scream, and she felt pain searing through her whole body, pain that until this moment she had tried not to concentrate on and to forget.

"After how _kind_ I've been to you, is this all that I get?" His cold voice pierced through the girl, it's coldness ringing through her head.

"Just say you're sorry and I might be somewhat as _forgiving_ as I was _before_."

"No, no, no!" the girl sobbed. Her body hurt, her mind had been taunted with enough, she couldn't help but cry.

"Isn't it a matter of pride, no crying in front of the person who causes you the pain?"

She yet again heard his piercing cold voice and only felt herself sobbing more. Whatever glimmer of hope that she'd seen before was now completely gone. "Why, Tathrun, why come after me? It's not me you really want? You're just going to use me!" she sobbed.

"So you know my name, do you? Let's just put it this way, in order to get what I want, I need you. Do you really think I just put you in that room for no reason, or acted like I did earlier to my underling for no reason. I knew you'd try to escape, I knew you'd try to _hope_, but I just diminished that hope and caught you, making me the victor." Tathrun was almost pleased to see his cold voice working on the girl. He was always cold, everything sounding somewhat nice or like a lunatic was an act. He did know what the girl was going to do, said he'd underestimated her to give her even more hope for him to crush.

"You're a cruel person, if you're even that," said the girl venomously.

"Now it's you're turn to answer me girl, and I've got a question. Back when we first fought, I told you my name, but you never told me yours. So tell me, what's your name, or need I tell you."

"My name is of no concern to the likes of you!" the girl shouted angrily, she knew that yet again the ninja was toying with her, and now that she really did have no hope in finishing her escape.

"Meiling," said his icy cold voice.

The girl shuddered, hearing her voice said like that, it was scary, very scary. The ninja's voice, icily calling her name, toying with her like she was nothing! Her body fell limp, she was defeated. She felt the ninja pick her up and carry her back to that dark hell that she just escaped from.

**A/N: **I'll try for my next chapter to be longer but I'm not sure when that'll be. I'm leaving to go camping tomorrow, so I may or may not pull off another update due to a busy schedule before then. Anyways review!

(Also when I said "dark hell" I'm using that to describe the place, aka for anyone wondering it's not Hell the place...)


	10. Dive For Me

A/N: Long time no type! I'm back now, at last, for yet another chapter of Takarin! And yes, I realize that the chapter title doesn't seem to relate, just deal with it, in my demented mind it all makes perfect sense. (Think of dive as dive into the fight...)

To the Reviewers: Your reviews made me feel great, thanks so much for them! (And keep them coming!)

Disclaimer: I... I... I don't own Card Captor Sakura... so I'll just go off and cry about it now... (Actually, better yet, I'll not cry and get on with the chapter.)

Previously:

The girl shuddered, hearing her voice said like that, it was scary, very scary. The ninja's voice, icily calling her name, toying with her like she was nothing! Her body fell limp, she was defeated. She felt the ninja pick her up and carry her back to that dark hell that she just escaped from.

Chapter 10: Dive For Me

Meiling cried. Again she was locked away. Who knew when _he_'d come. And then all would be over. _He_'d listen to Tathrun's demands in order to save her. She knew that _he _would.

A pair of amber eyes stared straight ahead. The owner of these eyes was a boy.

He walked straight ahead at a consistent pace, not stopping for anything. He drew near it, he was sure he was close. He stopped suddenly and closed his eyes. He crouched and pressed his palms against the ground. Balls of golden energy gathered at his palms. He released the energy, sending it flying in various paths across the ground, all heading northish.

The impact against the yokai was instantaneous and it died within a second, despite the fact that it was a mile away from its prey. The amber-eyed boy merely stood from where he was crouched and continued on his way. A mile's worth of traveling led him to the demon he killed. He stood next to the body, purposely making himself an easy target for whatever yokai were waiting for him.

He could hear it, coming from the south and cutting the air. He reached his hand up and grabbed the weapon that was flying at him. Blood dripped down his arm, coming from a wound in the palm of his hand. The weapon that he caught was flat, and had a sharp edges completely surrounding it.

He closed his eyes and listened. He heard noises, many of them. He tried to shut out all natural caused sounds, such as the waterfall that was to the east. He ducked just as an armed yokai flew out at him, twin katana at the ready. The boy silently cursed as more yokai appeared, he wasn't planning on fighting this many.

He placed his injured right hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip and fell easily into a fighting stance. For a moment nobody moved, and then in an instant the boy dodged to the side, avoiding a downward arch from one of the katana of the katana wielder. Then he jumped into the air, slashing downward with his sword, but missing the yokai that he slashed at.

He counted the yokai, there were seven. Two wielding heavy blades, one with twin katana, one with kunai, and three that seemed to wield nothing but their fists. None of them looked at all crazed.

He jumped over a slash at his legs, coming from the katana wielding yokai. He jumped off the head of one of the yokai hit another with his sword, it raised it's sword in defense and the amber-eyed boy quickly cut through the sword, and the yokai's head as well.

"One down, six to go," he muttered while jumping to the left to dodge six kunai and a punch. He cursed as he blocked a downward slash from the remaining heavy blade yokai. He held back a scream as a powerful fist connected with his jaw and sent him flying back into a tree.

He jumped up and ran towards the group of yokai, barely noticing the blood running down his arm from the kunai that brushed past him. He swung his sword in an arch, hitting three yokai, killing one. Quickly again he swung the sword, this time in an upward arch, killing another.

Four remained. One of them had to have _it_. He scanned over them, still none looked crazed. It would be unlike a yokai to have _it_ and not use _it_, but possible, none-the-less. He would assume that the yokai was strong enough not to be overcome by _it_, if it weren't for the fact that he was beating them.

He parried blows from the remaining yokai, one heavy blade, one twin katana wielder, and two fist fighters. He smirked as his sword sliced both the heavy blade, it's wielder, and a fist fighter in half.

"Now, which one of you has it?" he asked. Neither answered. "Fine," he growled, "I'll just kill you both and take it from your dead body." Not that it mattered if he killed them both, he had never yet let a yokai survive one of his fights.

He put his sword back into its sheath and held out his bleeding right hand. "Time to die," he said as a ball of energy, stained with red blood, began rapidly forming. He narrowed his eyes and released the magic, neither yokai had time to run, neither yokai had anywhere to run to escape, both lay on the ground dead.

He smirked and began to walk towards the bodies and was surprised when he found himself flying backwards, repelled by a barrier coming from the fist fighter's chest. He watched as the yokai rose, giving off a powerful, dark aura. "So you had it."

The yokai glared at the boy and began forming a ball of energy between both of his hands. His eyes grew wide as he released the energy.

The boy jumped, but could not avoid it, there was too much of it. The dark energy hit him in the chest and he flew back. He hit the ground only to meet another shot of energy. Pain flooded through his aching, bleeding body as he slowly stood.

He lunged forward at the yokai, energy surrounding his fist. He took another hit the chest, but didn't let it stop of phase him. His fist hit the yokai's head, full force, the impact knocking the yokai to the ground. He brought his fist down again and shattered the yokai's skull with his punch. He drew his sword and stabbed it through the yokai's heart.

He whipped the blood of his sword and sheathed it. He bent down and grabbed the pendant from around the yokai's neck. He pocketed the pendant and continued walking. He needed rest, to rejuvenate his strength. And he needed to let his injuries heal, or at least quit bleeding. Despite that he continued walking. No doubt other yokai near the area would be drawn by the scent of fresh blood. If he had the extra strength he'd banish the bodies, but having spent the last five days walking non-stop with no rest and battles ever ten hours of so left him devoid of the extra strength to do so with.

For as much as he hated going into towns he needed to find one soon, one that he could rest in or near to. The last of his strength was running out fast. He felt unconsciousness threatening him and quickly looked around. He sat and leaned against a tree, he'd rest for ten minutes and then be on his way.

He forced himself to stay conscious through the ten minutes and knew that he needed to find a safe place to rest. He forced himself to stand and resume his pace from earlier. He couldn't be far from a town.

A/N: I know it's short, but at least it's here (at long last)... Three guesses as to who the amber-eyed boy is, hehehe. And yes, he's carrying a sword similar to that of a samurai's at the moment and not his usual thick blade. There is reason behind it, to be revealed. Anyway don't hate me, read, review, and I may update sooner (I'll try my hardest to, but I'm running a few and I've got chemistry to deal with and I somehow managed to fail yet another test. Meaning that I've got a retake to study very hard for...) Thanks for reading, please review!

Long time no type! I'm back now, at last, for yet another chapter of Takarin! And yes, I realize that the chapter title doesn't seem to relate, just deal with it, in my demented mind it all makes perfect sense. (Think of dive as dive into the fight...)Your reviews made me feel great, thanks so much for them! (And keep them coming!)I... I... I don't own Card Captor Sakura... so I'll just go off and cry about it now... (Actually, better yet, I'll not cry and get on with the chapter.) Dive For Me I know it's short, but at least it's here (at long last)... Three guesses as to who the amber-eyed boy is, hehehe. And yes, he's carrying a sword similar to that of a samurai's at the moment and not his usual thick blade. There is reason behind it, to be revealed. Anyway don't hate me, read, review, and I may update sooner (I'll try my hardest to, but I'm running a few and I've got chemistry to deal with and I somehow managed to fail yet another test. Meaning that I've got a retake to study very hard for...) Thanks for reading, please review! 


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